Colton White has had a hot bat for Eagles

Colton White makes hitting sound as easy as stepping into the batter's box.

"Just see the ball, hit the ball," he said.

Except it's not been that simple for anybody wearing a University of Southern Indiana baseball uniform who's not named Colton White.

The junior catcher leads the team in batting average (.350), runs batted in (29) and slugging average (.479) and ranks second in on-base average (.409) to go with five doubles, two triples and two home runs.

He's also a big reason why the Screaming Eagles (20-17, 11-13 Great Lakes Valley Conference) have won six of their last seven games heading into today's doubleheader against visiting Lewis University (26-11, 16-8), starting at 2 p.m. The teams will meet again in another doubleheader on Sunday at noon.

USI as a team is batting .289. But eight games ago, when the Eagles were losing 10 of 11, White was the only player consistently making contact. Now the rest of the squad is, essentially, following his lead.

"It's about sitting on one pitch and, if you don't get

it, taking (pitches) until you get two strikes," said White. "If you guess the pitch right and it's a strike or in a place you can hit it, attack the ball and hope for the best."

With the aid of charts that show the tendencies — what pitch is thrown when to a particular batter — of every opposing pitcher USI has faced in the GLVC this season, White's teammates can hit like he does. Well, at least they can try to hit like he does. White looks at the charts and is almost certain what pitches he's going to see.

"Say (the pitcher) starts you out with a curve ball each time," he said. "You look for that and if he throws it for a strike, you're all over it."

Said USI coach Tracy Archuleta: "No. 1, it's about seeing the baseball, and (White) has been able to see the pitches he's looking for."

During the team's current homestand, White is batting .429 over the last nine games, going 15-for-35 with three doubles, a triple, nine RBIs and seven runs scored — and only one strikeout in 35 at-bats.

"Colton is very intelligent," said Archuleta. "He understands how they are pitching him. If there's a runner on second and two outs, he understands there's a base open and knows he's probably not going to get anything great to hit and that he has to avoid the (pitch) if it's down."

Said White: "It's just getting a quality at-bat. You try to see as many pitches as possible, working the count but also driving a ball into the gap or continuing an inning."

Now he and USI must keep winning if they are to have a chance of making the eight-team GLVC Tournament — the top three from the East Division, top two from the West and three wild cards — at Bosse Field and USI May 10-13.

Eight teams are above the Eagles in the standings. Lewis, 16-8 in the GLVC, is one of them. Another is Indianapolis, 15-5, which will host USI April 27-29. There's also Saint Joseph's, 11-13, which USI will host May 4-6.

Archuleta won't talk to his players about how many games they need to win; he said that's too much to take in.

"It's one pitch at a time," he said. "We're in playoff mode. We can't slip up.

"Baseball's a game of momentum. A ground ball with eyes, a ball that falls in (for a hit) — that's what we've been doing."